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Monday, April 5, 2010

Birthday Letters

The night before I got married, my mom handed me a stack of envelopes with dates written on them. Each envelope was unique and had aged a certain degree. Greatly puzzled, I began opening the envelopes and inside each one was a letter written to me by one of my parents on several birthdays. It was incredible to see my past through my parents eyes as they described what I was like at different ages, how they felt at the time and lessons we were all learning. I had absolutely no idea that each year, amidst all of the birthday chaos, one or both of my parents tried to write me a letter.

I knew at once that this was something I wanted to do for my children. As I was writing C his birthday letter the other night, it was so amazing to look back on the past year, to remember the struggles and joys of having a newborn, a crawler, a teether, etc. I loved every minute of writing that letter to him because I felt like I was seeing him in a different light as I tried to write a letter for him, instead of just a journal entry about my day.

I also greatly enjoyed pulling out K's letters that I have written to him and reminiscing his past. I came to realize how different my boys are and how much I truly love them and cannot imagine life without them. These are memories that I will want to cherish, and that I will want my children to know about. It is completely worth the 10 minutes spent to write a letter to preserve a little piece of who your child is.